Mannheim

As a venue for the 2010 IIHF World Championship, you couldn’t find a better town than Mannheim. Mannheimers have a very special relationship to winter sports. Every fan is proud of the record-winning German ice hockey champions, the Mannheimer Adler (lit. Mannheim Eagles). Not just because the club has been the most successful ice hockey team for more than ten years, but also because the Mannheimers simply love to cheer on their team on the ice and to see them win. Thanks to this tradition, a particularly enthusiastic and knowledgeable audience awaits the professionals in Mannheim.

Mannheim is the second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg, the centre of the Rhine-Neckar region in terms of sport and culture and home to around 320,000 people. The ‘grid city’ lies at the point where the Rhine and the Neckar meet.

The town’s motto is: everything is just ten minutes away. Don’t waste time, enjoy your free time. Mannheim’s quality of life is characterised by, on the one hand, city living with a wide range of cultural events and the best shopping opportunities, and on the other, a personal atmosphere, top sporting achievements and proximity to nature. If you’re looking for somewhere to enjoy the nicer side of life, you’ll find it here.

For example, one of the most beautiful art nouveau areas in Europe awaits you at the Mannheim water tower (Wasserturm), the town’s main landmark, while the second-largest inland port in Europe can be found at the confluence of the Rhine and Neckar. In Mannheim, nothing is far away. Many sights and cultural institutions can be reached on foot in just a few minutes.

Or experience the extraordinary variety of the region by getting out of Mannheim on a tour of discovery: Speyer with its imposing cathedral, Worms, famous as the town of the Nibelungenlied, the castles in Schwetzingen and Heidelberg – all this is right nearby and always worth an excursion.

Frankfurt am Main airport is about 75 kilometres from Mannheim by road or just 35 minutes by train. And with the high-speed train ICE you can reach the other venue for the 2010 IIHF World Championship, Cologne, in just 90 minutes. We’re looking forward to your visit!

SAP Arena

On 2nd September 2005, Baden-Württemberg’s most modern multifunctional arena was opened with a fabulous concert starring Ronan Keating. Since then, the SAP ARENA has successfully established itself as a calendar fixture for every major event organisers. These days, no big international tour would pass the SAP ARENA by.

The most appealing feature of the arena’s unusual, innovative architecture, apart from the sophisticated glass and aluminium façade, is its impressive roof construction; it already provides a foretaste of the exclusive interior of this large-scale project named after the Walldorf company, SAP.

The SAP ARENA is now the new home of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) record-holders, the “Mannheimer Adler”. The Eagles’ many fans are delighted about the move from the time-honoured Friedrichspark site to their new ice hockey palace.

As the host of the 2010 IIHF World Championship, the SAP ARENA is already looking forward to presenting unforgettable games to fans, sponsors, partners and friends of ice hockey.